2018 NFL Playoff Optimism For Each Team’s Fan Base

August 20, 2018

The NFL preseason, where nobody will be worse than 10-6, a shot at the playoffs seems like a reasonable goal, and a random exciting play by the backup QB can get the most disgruntled fan hyped about the team’s potential for the year.

But outside of the hyped-up “homer” fans, how are each team’s followers feeling about the upcoming 2018-19 NFL season?

We took a sample poll of each team’s fan bases to determine how everyone is feeling about their team’s playoff hopes for the upcoming season. We asked them one simple question:

How likely do you think it is that your team will make the playoffs this season?

Yes, we’ll probably make the playoffs

No, we’ll probably miss the playoffs

Below you will see the response percentages for each team, from highest to lowest.

Team

Responses

Yes, we’ll probably make the playoffs

No, we’ll probably miss the playoffs

Patriots

156

95%

5%

Steelers

149

90%

10%

Eagles

144

84%

16%

Saints

126

81%

19%

Packers

159

81%

19%

Vikings

118

79%

21%

Rams

118

77%

23%

Jaguars

133

75%

25%

Falcons

148

65%

35%

Panthers

120

60%

40%

49ers

140

59%

41%

Cowboys

171

58%

42%

Titans

154

57%

43%

Chiefs

121

54%

46%

Raiders

137

52%

48%

Seahawks

154

50%

50%

Texans

132

49%

51%

Broncos

139

42%

58%

Chargers

111

41%

59%

Lions

122

41%

59%

Redskins

155

40%

60%

Ravens

119

39%

61%

Buccaneers

120

37%

63%

Cardinals

111

35%

65%

Bengals

116

35%

65%

Colts

115

34%

66%

Bills

125

34%

66%

Giants

143

32%

68%

Bears

129

31%

69%

Jets

140

29%

71%

Browns

132

25%

75%

Dolphins

130

19%

81%

Notable findings:

Patriot blues – Teams in the AFC East not coached by Bill Belichick seem to be pretty convinced that they won’t make the playoffs. This was by far the biggest discrepancy in a single division, with the Bills, Jets, and Dolphins fans all having pretty negative sentiment toward their own team (even after the Bills made it last year).

The Browns are not in last – While they’re not exactly beaming with enthusiasm, following a 0-16 season, some fans seem excited about the current team’s direction, leaving the Dolphins at the bottom of this survey.

Seahawks down – We’re based in Seattle, and we try not to bias anything, but two years ago the Seahawks seemed like a sure thing in the NFC West. Now they’re anything but, especially with how the Rams and even the 49ers are playing.

The NFC South is up – Such is the nature of the division with the most parity over the last few years. We think it’s the Panthers’ year this year if past trends are any indication of future performance.

Methodology:

We polled each team fan base by asking for responses to self-identify with their favorite team

The responding person was not shown the question until they identified their favorite team to avoid attempts at gaming the poll

Each person was only able to respond once

Once the team reached a sample size between 100-150 votes, we removed the team from the poll

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